The People’s Democratic Party(PDP) in Edo State has called on the Attorney General of the Federation(AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, “to immediately halt all allocations to the state government through the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) as stipulated in the Supreme Court ruling.”
The party made the call through Tony Aziegbemi, the Chairman of its Caretaker Committee at a press briefing he addressed in the party’s Secretariat on Monday.
In drawing attention to what he tagged “the ongoing constitutional crisis and extermination of constitutional democracy in our dear State by the Senator Monday Okpebholo-led Edo State Government, which has crippled local government administration and placed the State on the brink of an unprecedented crisis, chaos, and anarchy.”
Aziegbemi recalled that Governor Okpebholo “had written to the Edo State House of Assembly ordering the suspension of duly elected chairmen in total disregard of the law. This directive was executed by the Assembly to the letter under the false pretense of gross misconduct and insubordination, without granting the chairmen a fair hearing.
“Not only did the House of Assembly purportedly and illegally suspend the council chairmen for two months, but their deputies were as well suspended, thereby raising the fundamental question: Even if the chairmen were to be suspended, what offense did the deputies commit to warrant their suspension?
“The illegal action of Okpebholo and the House of Assembly was despite the clear and binding ruling of every court in the land.”
He stated that despite that the state Chief Judge, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, had in an earlier judgement ruled “that the state government, and the State House of Assembly or their agents have no right to suspend or dissolve elected local government council officials” and also “issued a mandatory injunction, declaring the suspension null and void and restraining the state government and other parties from meddling in local government operations.”
Adding that “the order was totally disregarded by the state government which also disregarded the advice of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the Attorney General of the Federation on the matter. The Attorney General of the Federation had insisted that an elected local government official cannot be dissolved or suspended without following due process of law, which is the prerogative of councilors in the said LGA.
“Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, specifically warned that the illegal removal of local government chairmen by governors was a treasonable offense. This however could not stop Okpebholo’s resort to lawlessness and impunity as they deployed thugs and non-state actors who moved from council to council with whips and other dangerous weapons to enforce the illegal suspension of the local government chairmen.”
According to Aziegbemi, “having failed in the purported suspension, Okpebholo resorted to all sorts of illegalities to impeach the council chairmen whose hired thugs refused access to their respective offices, importing non-elected local government legislators in kangaroo arrangements to sit and pronounce the impeachment of the chairmen.”
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